Yonsei Med J. 2026 Aug;67(8):577-585. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2025.0268.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: There are few national studies of waiting-list mortality for heart transplantation (HT) in Korea. Our multicenter study examined mortality on the HT waiting list and its associated risk factors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 1101 consecutive patients who were wait-listed for HT between 2012 and 2017 in four centers. Time on the HT waiting list was defined as the time from initial wait-listing to delisting due to HT, death, or recovery. Subjects were censored at the time of transplantation or recovery.
RESULTS: Of the whole cohort, 327 (29.7%) patients needed mechanical circulatory support (MCS) while on the waiting list, 314 (28.5%) were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge, and 13 (1.2%) were treated with a ventricular assist device (VAD) as a bridge. The waiting-list survival rate for ECMO-bridged patients was significantly lower than that for VAD-bridged or non-MCS-bridged patients. The waiting-list survival rate for patients with a status of 0 or 1 was significantly lower than for patients with a status of 2 or 3. Multivariate analysis revealed that the independent risk factors for waiting-list mortality were congenital heart disease and restrictive cardiomyopathy compared with dilated cardiomyopathy, status 0 compared with status 2 and 3, low hemoglobin, history of ventricular arrhythmia, high MELD-XI score, and ECMO bridging during the waiting period.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that ECMO as a bridge to transplantation and status 0 were associated with significantly higher waiting-list mortality. Advanced end-organ damage at the time of listing was also found to be an independent risk factor for waiting-list mortality.
PMID:42494265 | PMC:PMC13407060 | DOI:10.3349/ymj.2025.0268